The Generals: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II

Several books have been written commemorating and retelling of the significance of the greatest leaders that have lived and experienced the most pinnacle moments in history. A few titles bear the same titles but the contents within the book are quite different. Such is the case with Winston Groom’s recent biography of the three most notable generals of the United States Army, which Grooms writes of the first and foremost trait that each men possessed, they earned their schooling and training at the military academy at West Point and Virginia Military Institute and second, each fought in the First World War within the same campaigns but separate and respective commands, George S. Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall and by the Second World War one would earn the distinction of four star general and two five star generals of the Army. This is their story and their life as they undoubtedly interconnected.The Generals pivots the roles of Patton, MacArthur, and Marshall to a level of understanding that is in need of acknowledgment more than 70 years after they achieved monumental victory within two fronts of World War II. The book does not focus on new findings that have been uncovered in presidential or archival libraries, but specifically tells the story to readers of three men that have been compared to the most historic figures in history, especially ancient history; Groom begins and sets the historic backdrop to ancient times and Alexander the Great as the epitome of leadership and the warrior spirit that contributed to his most notable role as a general. And what has that have to do with the generals depicted in the book? Each men that Groom writes of shared similar aspirations as young men before they set foot within the halls, rooms, and fields in which they, too, would lead armies of men within rugged terrain that would promote them to higher heights and more natural terrain where they would have to fight with their most bitter enemy to the end. Dramatic as it may it may seem, one does not have to go into too much detail with these generals. But for further insight, for readers that may not have delved within the individual biographies of Patton, MacArthur, or Marshall, the interconnectedness that they have in common shows in the chapter “Courage was the Rule”, imagine WWI and the Battle at Meuse-Argonne and the offensive that took place between September 26 to November 11, 1918, quite interesting. And besides that historic event, one must also backtrack to the lives of each men and other commonalities, they were one of the last of the fighting soldiers that grew up in a day and age that had long passed by the time WWII commenced but continued to carry on as strong-willed soldiers that had fathers or relatives of the US Civil War or grew up within the frontier.After reading The Generals, readers may see another perspective of how war was fought and the men that were responsible for leading their men and the world towards peace in spite of the costs that they will have lived to retell. And Winston Groom writes his narrative to continue to tell their stories. It is an enjoyable book for the curious history aficionado that provides a condense biography of each men but with concise detail.

This is a beautifully written, thoroughly researched and documented, interwoven biographical history of three of the greatest military leaders of the twentieth century – George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall. It spans their service in three wars – World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. I admittedly plodded my way through it at a glacial pace, studying maps and battle plans, and rereading many sections in an attempt to integrate the events into time, place, and context. This should warn the casual reader that this is not light reading, but fulfillment from the historical knowledge acquired is worth every minute of the effort required. I highly recommend this book and this author for anyone with an interest in U.S. twentieth century history. – David B. Crawley, M.D. – Author of “Steep Turn: A Physician’s Journey from Clinic to Cockpit” and “A Mile of String: A Boy’s Recollection of his Midwest Childhood.”

Text is easy to read. Subjects are well researched and thoroughly presented. I personally did not care for the back and forth storytelling of the text but understand it is necessary because of how the events unfolded historically. It is hard to accept the epilogue of their stories given what they accomplished for this nation in their lifetimes.My only complaint is the amount of spelling & grammar errors present in my kindle version.

Good book! Winston Groom gives a good picture of the backgrounds of three major players in the U.S. Army during WW II and how those backgrounds placed each of these generals in a very important place during the war. I recently read The Admirals by Walter Borneman, which gives a different slant on the war in the Pacific. For once I got beyond Mr. MacArthur's egotism and got a much better picture of him and his place in our nation's recent history. The stories of Marshall and Patton were also quite good.

The background information was enriching to the history I thought I knew. Nuances revealed only made the gentleman larger than life. I look forward to the next read.

I purchased this in audio form for my husband, who enjoys military history. He tells me it's an excellent book, and he's pretty picky. I may even listen to it myself.

Groom is a masterful storyteller; this book is no exception. He takes the reader through the paths of the men, their ponderous careers leading up to WWII, their small roles in WWI as well as their personal lives. The sections on their personal lives is enlivened with personal correspondence forming a large part of this material.I was disappointed Eisenhower wasn't included, as the leading Generals of WWII cannot be discussed absent Eisenhower in my opinion.I recommend this book if you're a reader of WWII history. It's excellent in that it goes into great details concerning specific battles. That said, it doesn't reveal the extent Eisenhower had to manage Patton on multiple occasions. Marshall was only in the Field for inspections, not managing battles or larger Campaigns. This is not to diminish his role--he was crucial to Roosevelt and could not be spared to lead the Normandy assault, hence the task fell to Eisenhower though many believe he was FDR's first choice.I contend this book would have been better with Eisenhower included. In a perfect world, it would have included all four, though it would have pushed the book to well over 1000 pages, therefore, I give it 4 stars, as the material presented was excellent, I merely wanted more!

Liked the way it was written, print was large enough I could read at night and it did keep my interest so I did not want to put it down

It’s like the highlights of the 3 fantastic careers , with so many achievements and lessons to learn applied to almost every situation in life .I’ll recommend it to my wife , sons & to anyone willing to observe and learn

Good

Marvellous. Concentrating on the top commanders and how they won the wars against germany, italy and japan.